Ordinary World
by Midii Une
Summary: Chapter 3 is up at last! The sequel to Love is a Battlefield . . . how long can an ordinary world last in AC 196?
1. Ordinary World, Chapter 1

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has stuck around this long for this series. This fic, like the others, follows the story of Gundam Wing, this time focussing on Endless Waltz obviously. But unlike Love is a Battlefield I'm going to really deviate from the actual storyline and go off on my own although some parts will be similar.  
  
  
Ordinary World   
  
Written by/Copyright: Duran Duran, © 1993 Publisher Music Ltd.   
  
  
Came in from a rainy Thursday   
on the avenue   
thought I heard you talking softly   
  
I turned on the lights, the TV   
and the radio   
still I can't escape the ghost of you   
  
What has happened to it all?   
Crazy, some'd say   
Where is the life that I recognize?   
gone away   
  
But I won't cry for yesterday   
there's an ordinary world   
Somehow I have to find   
and as I try to make my way   
to the ordinary world   
I will learn to survive   
  
Passion or coincidence   
once prompted you to say   
"Pride will tear us both apart"   
Well now pride's gone out the window   
cross the rooftops   
run away   
left me in the vacuum of my heart   
  
What is happening to me?   
Crazy, some'd say   
Where is my friend when I need you most?   
Gone away   
  
but I won't cry for yesterday   
there's an ordinary world   
somehow I have to find   
and as I try to make my way   
to the ordinary world   
I will learn to survive   
  
Papers in the roadside   
tell of suffering and greed   
here today, forgot tomorrow   
here besides the news   
of holy war and holy need   
ours is just a little sorrowed talk   
  
And I don't cry for yesterday   
there's an ordinary world   
Somehow I have to find   
and as I try to make my way   
to the ordinary world   
I will learn to survive   
  
Ordinary World  
by Midii Une  
  
. . . after Love is a Battlefield  
  
Chapter One  
  
Professor Elizabeth Evans, President of the Khushrenada Peace Studies Foundation, studied the latest reports. Someone was definitely putting together a weapons arsenal in space, somewhere near the L3 colony cluster. She frowned at the satellite data and put in an emergency call to Lady Une.  
  
"I see," Lady Une said, in her usual deceptively calm voice. "I'll let you know what is decided. Continue the investigation. Thank you Liz."  
  
Liz sighed and looked out the large window behind her desk. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass. In a heartbeat everything could fall apart, no one knew that better than her. Elizabeth Evans. Linnea Lang. Whatever name she went by, she was still the same person, with the same experiences. And her experiences were telling her that this meant trouble. She wondered impatiently how long it would take Lady Une to get back to her, hopefully it would only be a matter of hours.   
  
She opened her top desk drawer and her gaze fell on a small bunch of dried forget-me-nots. Now definitely wasn't the time to let her mind wander, but . . .  
  
(Six months earlier)  
  
She passed through the crowd of students at the University, answering questions, shaking hands and shaking off the occasional cold stare. Most of them had received her speech well. Public speaking was a form of therapy for her. Only through informing people about the horrors of past wars could future conflicts be avoided. Still, she felt and looked older than her 17 years. She could hardly believe herself that she was still that young, that less than two years before she had been a student, of sorts, herself. A student with a secret occupation -- constructing a Gundam mobile suit.  
  
She stepped out of the crowded auditorium, closed her eyes and leaned against the wall in a dark, quiet hallway. She opened them again at a soft touch on her shoulder. "Linnea? It's really you, isn't it?" a strangely gentle voice asked.  
  
She stared and her eyes started to fill with tears, but she hastily blinked them back. She let him pull her into his arms, slowly starting to believe that at least this one friend had forgiven her. She should have known he would be the one. He could always forgive anyone anything.  
  
"Quatre," she whispered, leaning into him.  
  
Quatre held her close, inhaling the scent of her hair. Remembering a time when she had held him in exactly the same way. Forgiving him for sins he thought could never be forgiven. He had begun to think he would never find her again and then suddenly here she was. He pulled away from her a little and tilted her face up to his with his hand. She smiled as she looked up.  
  
"You've gotten taller," she observed.  
  
"Why have you been hiding?" he asked, ignoring her comment. "From me. From Duo."  
  
As he spoke that name she pulled herself totally away from him and in a gesture that was new to her since he'd last seen her, she turned her back and wrapped her arms around herself defensively.  
  
"I'm not hiding," she protested, almost hiding the little catch in her voice. "Peace is still precarious as you know and Lady Une and I thought it best to take a few precautions and not advertise my actual identity. If anyone really wanted to find me, it wouldn't be hard."  
  
They both looked at the floor awkwardly for a moment before he felt a tug on his arm and looked up to see a glimpse of the old Linnea before him.  
  
"Come on, Quatre," she said cheerfully. "Take me out for a cup of coffee and tell me what you're doing now?"  
  
"Some things never change," he said, smiling back at her and taking her hand. "Coffee it is."  
  
Linnea dropped the tiny flowers and closed the desk drawer, trying to concentrate on the issue at hand, wondering if the avalance could be stopped before it became a disaster.  
  
  
***  
  
Tania, Professor Evans' secretary, looked up as someone entered the outer office. The corners of her mouth turned up flirtatiously as a good-looking, enigmatic stranger walked in.  
  
"I need to speak with . . . Professor Evans. Tell her it's important that it's . . . . an old friend," he said.  
  
Tania shook her head but smiled at him brightly. "I'm so sorry, she's in the middle of an important video conference. Please wait and I'll see if I can get you in."  
  
She was momentarily afraid that the young man would burst into the office without permission, but she relaxed when he turned and began to study the life-size oil portrait of Treize Khushrenada which hung on one wall. Underneath the portrait was a huge bowl of perfect Peace roses, sitting on a polished mahogany table.  
  
Tania noticed that the video conference with Lady Une was over and buzzed her boss. "You have a visitor without an appointment but he says it's urgent," the secretary reported. Liz sighed and was about to tell the girl to get rid of him, she had her hands full as it was. "He says he's an old friend," the bubbly Tania chatted on. Her voice lowered to a whisper, "he's handsome too, shall I send him in?"   
  
Liz tapped a finger to her lips in consideration. Quatre wouldn't, he had promised. Still, it had been six months and if he had heard about this trouble . . . Part of her hoped it was him, she needed a friend right now, and just maybe she was ready for more.   
  
Outside the door, Tania wondered what Liz could be thinking. She never did show any interest in men, handsome or otherwise, which was strange. She was still so very young and very pretty. She always looked striking with her smooth pale blonde hair and her all-black wardrobe. There were rumors was that she had been involved with the late world leader, Treize Khushrenada, which was why she always wore black and never went out. Tania wished she knew the truth, what a great story that would be and Tania loved gossip. She let her gaze move to the portrait on the wall, and sighed. What a handsome man Treize Khushrenada had been. She was startled out of her reverie when Liz asked her to send the young man in.  
  
Linnea stood with her back to the door, silhouetted against the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the green lawn and omnipresent rose gardens. Like an unstoppable avalanche things were starting to happen again, they'd only had their ordinary world for a year.  
  
"If it isn't Linnea Lang," a vaguely familiar voice stated. Without turning around she answered, "I'm sorry, you must be misinformed. I am Professor Evans."  
  
She heard footsteps and a hand reached out to spin her around. He pried her fist open and touched the scar which slashed across her right palm. "I never forget my enemy," Wufei said, scowling at her.  
  
Linnea pulled her hand away. "Linnea Lang is gone. I'm not that person anymore. Why are you here? You know something about the threat to this peace?"  
  
"It means that you're in danger. That's why I came. I've been keeping tabs on you," Wufei answered. She raised an eyebrow at him and her violet eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. She struggled to repress a feeling of excitement, the ordinary world had been somewhat boring.  
  
"And who are you to keep tabs on me? Are you my guardian angel or my parole officer? As you can see I promote peace now. Peace through knowledge and the study of the past. Lady Une has been informed of the threat in space and I'm sure she'll act accordingly."  
  
"You're coming with me to space." Wufei said.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere," she said. "I'm needed here during this situation. You have nothing to worry about. I will never construct a mobile suit again, not for anyone."  
  
"I'm not taking no for an answer. I'm not even asking for your opinion, Linnea," he said, stressing the name.   
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Linnea asked as Wufei attached a cable to the foot of her desk and yanked the window open. "We're leaving. Hold on," he muttered as he grabbed her around the waist and holding onto the cable jumped out the fourth story office window. She barely contained a shriek and wound her arms tightly around his neck as they landed with a thud on the ground. "Now, run," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him.  
  
"Faster. Can't you run faster?" Wufei said, silently cursing her slowness. "You're really out of shape."  
  
"Well, peace and these damned high heels will do that to you," Linnea said trying to put on the brakes.   
  
"Hold it," she said. "I said I'm not going with you. Was there a part of that you didn't understand?" She tried desperately to loosen her hand from his grip. Wufei paused for a second and gripped her tightly by both arms and pulled her close, looking into her eyes, their noses almost touching. "And I told you that I wasn't asking."  
  
Linnea swallowed nervously as she looked into those black eyes. She didn't like what she saw there. And she started to realize that even though they had started out on the same side so long ago, he really was her enemy now. She had misunderstood his intentions entirely. The danger that he had mentioned earlier came from him.  
  
***  
  
"I couldn't track down Wufei," Quatre told the others regretfully. He and the three other former Gundam pilots had decided to celebrate the imminent arrival of the first anniversary of peace by destroying their mobile suits. It seemed safe enough now, there had been no further threats.  
  
"You tried your best I'm sure Quatre," Trowa said.   
  
Heero nodded in an agreement, although it nagged at him that they were destroying the only means of fighting Shenlong Altron if it should fall into the wrong hands. As they often did, his thoughts turned to Relena. She was doing a wonderful job and this peace was a successful one mostly due to her influence. He knew deep inside that she must think of him often too. The answer to what to do about that still eluded him however.  
  
Duo walked away from the others, he needed to say goodbye to DeathScythe. There wasn't any need for a God of Death in this ordinary world, but that didn't erase the good and the bad memories tied up in the Gundam. And it was his last link to Linnea. He touched the mobile suit and heard the crash of a champagne bottle and he was holding her again, kissing her as he slowly spun around in a chair. Where the hell are you Linnea, he wondered. I can't make myself forget you.  
  
Quatre appeared next to him. "You're thinking about Linnea, aren't you?" he asked. "I know she would think this is the right thing to do. Have you been in touch with her?"   
  
"How in hell would I be in touch with her since she's dropped out of sight like she has? I haven't seen her since she left the Cinq Kingdom," Duo said testily, annoyed at having had his mind read so easily. Then he looked at Quatre sharply. "But you have seen her, haven't you? Why didn't you tell me before this?"  
  
Quatre paused a moment, trying to think how to answer. I know I promised I wouldn't tell him where you were, he thought silently, but I don't want to wait anymore. I want to start my life with you, if we're going to be together.  
  
"I ran into her by chance, about six months ago," Quatre explained. "But she asked me not to tell you I'd seen her. She made me promise. She said she wasn't ready to see you yet, didn't know if she ever would be."  
  
He remembered how he had taken her in his arms finally that night and ignored the surprised look of protest on her face and kissed her as he had always wanted to. Quatre could have sworn she responded to it. He drew her close to him and his hands were on either side of her face, softly stroking back the loose hair so he could look into her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered closed as he pressed his forehead against hers and their noses brushed against each other, a tiny shiver ran through her as his hands ran softly down her face, brushing over her cheekbones and one of his thumbs touched her full lips gently before his hands continued downward over her neck and collarbone down to her waist, pulling her close to him so that every part of them was touching connected except for their lips. He could sense her holding her breath in anticipation, waiting for his lips to touch hers, they'd known each other so long, cared so much but their lips had never touched. His own breathing seemed to be more rapid than usual even as hers was so still, waiting . . .  
  
He still felt her hands slip slowly up his back to link around his neck and pull him closer, felt her lips part under the pressure of his, then something had happened. She remembered Duo.  
  
"I'm sorry," she had whispered, pulling away from him and talking in broken sentences. "I'm not ready for this. The way we left it, Duo and I. I don't even know if we're really over. We must be over, but in my heart, I'm not sure, there's a part still holding on. At least that's how I feel."  
  
  
Linnea, there's something you don't know," Quatre started.  
  
"I know about Hilde Schbeiker, I know all about her," Linnea said, steeling herself from sobbing in his arms at the unfairness of it all.  
  
"Then talk to him. Find out how you both feel. I want you, Linnea, I love you. You know that I've always loved you. From the minute I first saw you. Find Duo and say goodbye so we can all get on with our lives," he had said and looking down at the flowerbed in the park he had seen a small bunch of tiny blue forget-me-nots. He picked them and pressed them into her hand.  
  
"I'm going to wait until you know how you feel," he said. "That's not fair Quatre," she protested. "Don't put your life on hold for me." "I want you to be my life. I can wait for that," he said. "I've waited this long, haven't I?"  
  
Duo studied Quatre's thoughtful face and realized something. "You're in love with her, aren't you?" he said, in a voice surprisingly devoid of emotion. Quatre nodded, "what about you? How do you feel about Linnea now?"  
  
"Angry," Duo said simply. "Angry at her for leaving, angry at myself for hurting her, angry at her for hiding from me and angry at myself for not finding her. Does that answer your question?"  
  
Quatre pressed a business card into Duo's hand. "I'm going with the Maganacs to launch the mobile suits toward the sun. Would you do me a favor and find Linnea?" Duo opened his hand and looked at the card and nodded. Professor Elizabeth Evans, President. Khushrenada Peace Studies Foundation.  
  
Duo sighed. Treize. He should have known. He was dead but she still worked for him. Duo knew the image would come now and it did. How he hated it. Would it ever go away? Why had he ever read that stupid letter?  
  
And he admitted to himself that he hadn't cared then or now that she had she had created the Epyon for Treize, he only cared that she had let him kiss her. Damn Treize for being such a descriptive writer, from that mere dozen-or-so words Duo had been able to see the whole thing clearly and nothing could wipe the image of that kiss from his mind.  
  
***  
  
Wufei pushed Linnea into the space shuttle and slammed the hatch shut. "Sit down," he ordered her and started pushing controls for lift off. "Like hell," Linnea said, forgetting her earlier fear of him. He didn't know her if he thought she would meekly sit there and let him take off with her. What had come over him, what was happening? He must be insane. She reached over the door to pull the emergency abort switch, if she could get it they wouldn't be going anywhere and someone would stop him before he could hijack another shuttle.   
  
He caught her motion out of the corner of his eye and he pulled her back just in time, barely restraining himself from smacking her. Her violet eyes blazed at him defiantly and he knew he didn't have a choice. She was weak but she was also smart enough to stop him if he let he get the chance. Wufei hauled her up by the arm and slammed her hard into the seat and before she could get up he lashed her wrists together in front of her and then tied the ends to the arm rests. "Now stay put," he said. "I wouldn't bother pulling on those if I were you, I'm very good with knots." "Wufei, why are you doing this? You bastard, let me go," she hissed, ignoring his advice and tugging on the rope around her wrists. He ignored her and completed the takeoff procedures.  
  
Finally he turned to face her. "It's Operation Meteor. The real one this time," he explained. "The whole thing was planned by Barton Conglomerate but Dr. J and the others took it out of the company's hands two years ago. But Barton Conglomerate paid the bills, your bills for the DeathScythe and my colony's bills for Nataku. They couldn't locate the other scientists. But I knew where you were."  
  
She looked at him uncomprehendingly. "But surely the others aren't in on this. Quatre can't be! And not Duo," she protested. "You're right, of course, they're not in on it. The idiots are destroying their Gundams as we speak," Wufei said. He stood up and walked over to her and leaned in close.   
  
"Mr. Barton wants you delivered, so I'm delivering. Hardly a mission worthy of a Gundam pilot, but a job is a job. After that you're not my problem anymore."  
  
Next time on Ordinary World . . . sooooo it's not so ordinary after all, that didn't take long . . . Hilde wonders when Duo will come to his senses about their relationship . . . Tania's romantic imagination runs away with her which jeapordizes Linnea's chances of being rescued . . . Linnea has regrets concerning Quatre.  
  
  



	2. Ordinary World, Chapter 2

Ordinary World  
Chapter 2  
  
  
Tania looked at the closed door of Liz's office, it was so quiet in there. She wondered what could be going on. It had been over two hours that her boss had been closeted in there with that interesting young man with the black eyes and black hair. In fact, she sighed, looking at the clock on her desk, it was about time for her to be leaving for the day.  
  
Tania stood and pressed her ear to the door. Nothing. She walked back to her desk and picked up her paperback romance and giggled softly. The blonde on the cover was swooning in the arms of a dark-haired hunk. She glanced at the closed door again and wondered if her sedate and serious boss was finally letting her hair down a little. It would be about time.  
  
She decided to leave without saying good-bye.  
  
As Tania walked down the hall, her mind full of romantic fantasies concerning her boss and her dark-haired visitor the phone started ringing.  
  
Lady Une frowned as the phone rang and rang. Elizabeth, she thought, why don't you answer?  
  
The breeze coming in through the open window blew the papers off Linnea's desk, swirling them around the empty room as the ring of the phone echoed in the silence.  
  
*******  
  
Hilde worried about how Duo would react to the destruction of DeathScythe. Of course it had sat unused for nearly a year and the universe would be safer with the Gundams out of the picture. She sighed and thumped her head in mock anguish on the counter of their jointly owned space salvage business. She was on her own while he met with the others.  
  
When, she wondered. When would he be ready to take their relationship to the next step? Couldn't he see how much she loved him? Did he think she just hung around with him because she liked him and he was a nice guy? Maybe this would do it, maybe destroying the DeathScythe would set him free to start a new chapter in his life. One with her in it of course. Maybe he would tell her why he was always careful to keep his distance. She knew he cared about her, maybe even loved her, but he hid his feelings behind a mask of careless grins and little jokes.  
  
"A girl like you doesn't want to get stuck with me Hilde," he would say, grinning at her and giving her a careless squeeze. A squeeze that would set her heart thumping and make her long for so much more. She wanted nothing more than to be stuck with Duo Maxwell, forever.  
  
After she'd been injured in the final battle he'd been so sweet to her. She had really expected him to declare his love and the whole nine yards, but it had never gone beyond that. Something had happened on Earth, there had been someone else she knew that. But wasn't she out of the picture? Linnea. Somehow she was coming between her and Duo. Was she dead and Duo blamed himself? What could it be? Wherever you are, Hilde thought, and whatever you were to Duo, why can't you just go away now? Go away and let him start over. I can make him happy, I know I can.  
  
*******  
  
We could have been happy, I know it, she thought to herself. What have I done?  
  
Linnea rubbed her bruised wrists and shot a wary glare at the pilot of the space shuttle, Chang Wufei. He'd been honorable enough to cut her loose as soon as they were safely on course. She looked out the window, seeing her own face reflected on the blackness of space. Neither of them dared to break their silent truce with unnecessary words, leaving both of them to their own thoughts.  
  
She either moved too slowly or too quickly, always making the wrong choice at the wrong time. Of course if she'd been with him Barton might have found a way to get to her eventually. That little piece of common sense was very little comfort however.  
  
Over the months his gentle sapphire eyes and the soft touch of his lips on hers had rooted themselves in her dreams. Thoughts of Quatre were so peaceful and safe. She was finally starting to wake up with a smile on her face instead of tearstains and regrets. Nightmares of angry violet eyes and furious shouts intermingled with exploding mobile suits were bothering her less and less. Still, there had been tears when one night she'd tried to remember how it felt to sleep in Duo's arms and found that she couldn't bring the sensation back anymore.  
  
Only her own cowardice in saying good-bye was holding her to him with a slender thread, a slender thread that still wouldn't break. She'd picked up that phone a dozen times and once even let it ring until Hilde picked it up. Linnea still remembered the heat flooding her face as she listened to Hilde's puzzled voice ask who was there.  
  
"Wrong number," she'd mumbled, her heart pounding a mile a minute.  
  
She forced her thoughts away from her muddled personal life to the even more important question of what she was going to do now. There was only one reason anyone would want to see her this badly. It all tied in with what she had discovered earlier in the day. Mobile suits, someone was putting together a private army in space and they obviously wanted her help in doing it.  
  
Linnea didn't think her refusal to take the job was going to go over very well with the head of the Barton Conglomerate. She wished for the millionth time that her father had shared the details about who had been backing the Gundam operation. Now she realized that what she had known about their mission barely scratched the surface. Something ugly roiled underneath the honorable intentions she, at least, had striven for. The others had been working to safeguard the colonies too, she was certain, even Wufei over there.   
  
She could play a game of pretended cooperation but she didn't know if she had it in her anymore. Linnea didn't want to think of what outright refusal could mean.  
  
"Quatre," she thought. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was ready to try."  
  
In the distance something far away moved, it was another shuttle, sliding gracefully through the sky. It seemed to move so slowly but she knew that in actuality it was speeding through the darkness at amazing rates of speed. She touched the image of the other shuttle with her fingertips, so close and yet so far away. She was virtually alone out here and a sense of loneliness and despair engulfed her heart.  
  
She turned away from the window  
  
*******  
  
Maybe asking Duo to go see Linnea had been a mistake. But after six months of waiting to hear from her even Quatre had finally grown a little impatient. He had even, despite suffering an intense case of embarrassment, asked Rasid vague, proverbial questions about women and relationships.  
  
"Miss Linnea is a stubborn woman, forgive my saying so Master Quatre," Rasid had said. "But in my experience many times women say one thing but expect another. Don't hold off too much longer."  
  
How many times had he started to punch in the number on the card? The memory of his promise to wait always stopped him. Quatre kept his promises. Duo had asked about her, he hadn't volunteered the information. Still, despite the confrontation between Duo and Linnea being what he wanted he didn't want to think about it. What if ? Duo hadn't said he didn't care about her anymore and Quatre knew he hadn't made any commitment to Hilde. What if?  
  
He looked out the window of the escort shuttle they were using to make sure the Gundams made it out of Earth's gravity pull without being retrieved or going off course. It was too dangerous to let them just float off toward the sun on their own. Far away in the distance was another shuttle. Seeing it there, close enough to see but too far to touch, reminded him how lonely space could be at times.   
  
  
******   
  
All the way back home Duo wondered what he was going to say to Hilde about where he was going. He decided eventually that although lying was definitely out, omitting the facts might be a good alternative.  
  
There was a very good reason the God of Death never told lies.  
  
He was horrible at it.  
  
Hilde's female intuition immediately went into red alert when Duo offered to take her out for dinner.  
  
"He's up to something," she thought as she looked in the ladies' room mirror, touching up her lipstick and brushing a hand casually through her becomingly tousled midnight-black hair.   
  
At the restaurant he grinned at her, but his eyes wouldn't meet hers. He kept them on the huge slice of apple pie ala mode he was busy devouring. A dab of the vanilla ice cream clung to the corner of his mouth. It wasn't fair Hilde thought, a smile warming her face in spite of her strange uneasiness. He was too adorable to resist. She reached out with her finger and with a delicate touch scooped off the ice cream and put the finger in her mouth. She knew she was being deliberately provocative but she didn't care. Hilde was getting tired of all this waiting. She ached for the touch of his lips on hers again . . .   
  
"Umm, Hilde," Duo blushed. He was so attracted to her but he didn't want to hurt her. He had to be sure. "I thought you didn't want dessert?"  
  
"It was just a taste Duo," she said, laughing at his red cheeks and grabbing a spoon and digging into his dessert.  
  
"Hey, get your own," he teased, pulling the plate away for a second before pushing it back towards her a little, inviting her to share.  
  
"That's quite a concession from you, you Bottomless Pit you," she said. Then she dropped the bomb. "Why are you being so nice tonight anyway?"  
  
Drat, she got me, Duo thought. Stupid women's intuition. To think that some people thought it was only a myth!  
  
He started stammering, feeling Hilde's gorgeous blue eyes boring right through him as if she could see directly into his heart and soul. Those things should of been weapons he thought to himself, they caught you in their sights and never let go just like a heat-seeking missile.  
  
"I'm waiting Duo," her voice prodded.  
  
He slid his hand across the table capturing her small one in his. As always she was surprised at how suddenly he could turn serious.   
  
"Hilde, I need to ask you to take care of things here by yourself a little longer. I need to go to Earth tomorrow and take care of something. I've been putting it off too long already. I can't move on until I've done this. Saying good-bye to DeathScythe today and talking to the other guys made me realize that. I don't want to say what it's about, hell, you can probably guess anyway," he explained, his face reddening a little at the last words. "But Hilde, I promise that no matter what I'm going to come back here. Okay?"  
  
She had wished for this moment since the end of the war. But now, the thought of it made her very nervous. What if she lost him now, after waiting all this time? What would happen when he saw her, that other girl in his life, again?  
  
******  
  
Linnea sat uncomfortably in a large, disgustingly elaborate office. She felt very small and insignificant in the silence, lost in a huge leather chair. If someone meant to make her feel intimidated they were succeeding, she thought to herself. She hated waiting and every nerve was on edge. She had gotten up to try the door once, finding herself face to face with an armed guard.  
  
Finally a man entered the office. Linnea could see him struggling to maintain a vestige of control and cordiality on his face, a face as distinctive as one might see on a Pharaoh's tomb in Egypt.  
  
She felt like she should stand in his presence and cursed herself for automatically doing so. Damn Treize and his penchant for protocol, she thought, too much of it had rubbed off on her.  
  
"Welcome to our operation Miss Lang," the man said, eyes flicking over her disinterestedly.  
  
Linnea's eyes narrowed. "You are mistaken sir," she said softly, trying to pattern her voice on the calm cool tones of Lady Une. "I am not joining your operation and I am not Linnea Lang. This forced meeting of ours is unconscionable and I demand--"  
  
His face contorted with anger and a loud crack sounded through the room as he slapped her hard across the face, sending her reeling to the floor with the surprise blow.  
  
"You are in no position to make demands. You are who I say you are and you will do what I tell you to do," the man, who she presumed must be the head of the operation, continued. Linnea wisely kept her position on the floor, eyeing him warily.  
  
He pushed a few buttons on a laptop on the desk and studied the image then glanced at the girl on the floor, pulling her up by the arm and shoving her toward the desk and the monitor.  
  
"That is you, is it not," he asked, as she looked in disbelief at a file with a dated picture of herself, perhaps at age 12 or 13. All she could do was nod mutely.  
  
"Then, Miss Lang, there will be no questions and there will be no refusals when I give you my orders. Because you are my employee and always have been. Your absence without leave will be forgiven this once because you are necessary to my plans," he said.  
  
"Who are you," she asked, prepared to dodge a blow for her insolence but curiosity gnawing at her all the same.  
  
"Dekim Barton, the next ruler of the Earth Sphere United Nation," he answered.  
  
******  
  
Duo glanced up at the red-brick edifice from under the brim of his black baseball cap, a slow, impressed whistle coming from his lips. She really had changed if she was in charge of all of this, probably even had her own limo too, he thought. And not for the first time he thought what a bastard Treize Khushrenada was for screwing with her mind the way he had. Did the real Linnea that he had once loved still even exist? Was there even any point in talking to her anymore?  
  
He touched the brim of the hat and walked in, not bothering to scrape the mud and wet grass from the previous night's rain off his shoes. To hell with Treize Khushrenada's marble halls. He had to go on, he owed it to the old Linnea, he had to see if there was anything left of her inside Professor Elizabeth Evans. He couldn't stop the pre-battle feeling of adrenaline from rising up inside as he wondered how he'd feel when he saw her again. It had been so long, more than a year . . .   
  
For the second day in a row Tania looked up from her desk to see a young man asking to see her boss without an appointment.  
  
But this time, unfortunately, she was going to have to disappoint. She was totally harried today, fielding endless calls from Lady Une and other officials. Plus Tania had no idea where Liz had got to, she hadn't seen her since yesterday afternoon and now it seemed like she had disappeared from the face of the Earth.  
  
Why did everyone in charge suddenly feel that Tania ought to know where Liz was? And why had Liz, who had always been so prompt and on time chosen today to play hooky? Tania thought it must have something to do with the dark young man who'd come in yesterday and irritated as she felt with her boss right now for putting her in this position she wasn't ready to turn her in yet, so she continued to make the appropriate excuses to everyone, including the man in front of her. The one with the incredible violet eyes. She sighed unconsciously in rapt admiration as he hesitated before her desk, unsure of his next move.  
  
Dammit, Duo thought, pondering his next move. Denied. He felt like that smarmy picture of Khushrenada on the wall were smirking at him victoriously. He hadn't thought that she wouldn't be here. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?  
  
He noticed the infatuated gaze of the ditzy secretary, she'd said her name was Tammy or something. There were certainly more unpleasant ways to find information. He was going to track Linnea down today if at all possible, he didn't want to admit to himself that he wanted to find her before he lost his courage and totally blew off Quatre's request.  
  
So he winked at Tania and said, "interested in going out for lunch?"  
  
Unable to speak in the awe-inspiring presence of Shinigami, the little secretary nodded her blissful acceptance. He was absolutely gorgeous.  
  
******  
  
Linnea felt like breaking things, she was furious. The door was locked and there were even bars on the windows--it was like some kind of gothic nightmare. If he thought he could break her like this he was sadly mistaken. She was definitely not going to add her expertise to his engineering staff and there would be no more mobile suit designs like the Epyon. Moisture gathered on her forehead, with her eyes shut she could see the cockpit in her mind, could see the design schematics scrolling across a computer monitor rapidly and in precise detail.  
  
She looked around the room it was musty and dusty and half the furniture was still covered in dust cloths. Angrily she yanked the one off the huge bed and coughed as clouds of dust swirled around her. She curled up on the bed and beat her fist uselessly on the feather pillow, surprised when suddenly her hand met something solid that definitely wasn't made of feathers. She pulled out a book, a diary of some kind.  
  
Irritated, she'd been hoping it was a gun at least, Linnea threw the book against the bolted door. It didn't make her feel any better so she got up and retrieved the book. It might be someone else's diary but maybe it would tell her something and God knew she needed a distraction before memories of Epyon got the better of her. In anyone that had ever been under the Zero System's influence the sensation could sometimes reappear like it had just been lurking in the back of their mind, waiting to be recalled.  
  
She flipped through the little book absently, merely trying to keep her mind off other things, until Treize's name caught her eye.  
  
******  
  
THE JOURNAL OF LEIA BARTON  
  
AC 188, 11 June  
  
Among the wounded following a mobile suit attack on the colony today there was one man that I could not treat like the others, although it is my duty as a nurse to treat all patients the same. The stark white of the bandage around his head did nothing to dim the nobility and beauty of his face. He is like a god, I thought, immediately berating myself for such ridiculous ideas. He can be no more than a man, although his appearance certainly argues for my first impression of him. Of course if he were a god he would not have been wounded. So there you have it, there is my proof. Why must I repeat it to myself over and over to convince myself of this? Treize Khushrenada is not a god, he is only a man.  
  
Yes, but such a man as I have never seen before and never will again. It was unethical but I made sure that I was put in charge of his room. When he awakes I will get to talk with him and see whether he is really made from better stuff than other men.--LB  
  
*******  
  
Linnea gasped. The diary of Leia Barton lay face down on the bed calling her to pick it up again and she really couldn't resist. She couldn't help but wonder if there was a woman anywhere who hadn't had the same initial reaction to Treize.  
  
*******  
  
THE JOURNAL OF LEIA BARTON  
  
AC 188, 15 June  
  
He is leaving soon, I have amended my initial opinion and have decided that although he is not *quite* a god still he is yet more than other men somehow. Someone truly special in this world full of ordinary people. There is a flicker of interest in his eyes when his meet mine but he is not the type to love and leave. He has such integrity. As for me, I would not care if it were to be just one night with him. With such a man it would be better to love and lose than never to love at all. Today I brought a Hemingway novel to read aloud to Treize when I was on my break. I saw the understanding in his face, he too has heard of the famous love affair between the author and his nurse during some long-forgotten war. Our interests are the same it seems and we think alike.  
  
I will miss him when he is gone.--LB  
  
  
To be continued . . . Linnea gets immersed in Leia's diary . . . meanwhile, can Duo pry any meaningful information from the brainless Tania?  
  
BTW, ever seen the pic of Treize and Leia? I put one in this file if you wanna check it out!  
http://treizetemple.homestead.com/files/leia.jpg  
  
AND to AVA, here's a very kawaii pic of Wufei, I never thought he was much to look at either till I saw this, plus I try to be nice to the fans of all the G-pilots and describe them as hunks when I can ^_~ Check him out:  
http://midiiune.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/145dou.jpg  
  
  



	3. Ordinary World, Chapter 3

Author's Note: A thousand apologies for the delay on this fic

Author's Note:A thousand apologies for the delay on this fic!!I can give a thousand reasons, including a well-timed

and well-aimed flame (ouchie someone really hurt my feelings), problems with my websites, work on other projects

etc.But I will finish this fic (nervous laughter).Thanks so much to everyone who's written me expressing an interest

and gently nudging me to continue this project.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ordinary World

By Midii Une

Chapter 3

The slender black permanent marking pen twirled gracefully over and between Duo's fingers, he tossed the pen up and

caught it.Tossed it up in the air behind his back and caught it.

He waited while Tania went through her freshening up ritual.And the whole time Treize stared down at him

complacently.The guy had turned out to be a freaking hero and Duo still wasn't sure how that had happened.He

didn't understand Treize Khushrenada.Had Linnea?

He made a face at the permanently smiling face in the portrait.It would be so easy, Duo thought, unconsciously

leaning forward, so easy to pop the top off that black pen and just draw a little mustache . . . right . . . about . . .

"Oh my God!! Lady Une," Tania shrieked, dropping her lipstick and jumping to her feet. She wondered if she should

salute.

Duo turned guiltily toward the door, the black pen leaving a squiggly black line that marred the starched white shirt

buttoned beneath Treize's painted chin.

"Uuuhhhh," Duo stuttered, turning to face Lady Une.

"You," she questioned, furrowing her brow."You're Duo Maxwell."

"Yeah," Duo said, his confident grin returning as she stuck out a hand to shake.He wasn't as polished as Quatre but he

knew a few of the formalities.

Lady Une ignored the outstretched hand and pulled her glasses from a pocket of her jacket, she peered through them

at the black mark on the painting. She sighed and shook her head, before tucking the glasses back in her pocket and

turning back to Tania.

"Where is Liz," she demanded, tilting her head toward the office door."This is urgent."

"You should call her Linnea," Duo muttered."That is still her name."

"Why are you here," Lady Une sighed, flicking her gaze back toward the outrageous young man.

"Same as you," Duo shrugged."But I've got the feeling we're not going to find what we're looking for here."

Both of them turned toward the unlucky Tania who stared at them with an attempt at wide-eyed innocence.But even

the scatter-brained girl was beginning to realize that this sort of irresponsible behavior was not like the quiet, serious

young woman she worked for.

Lady Une seated herself in a leather-upholstered armchair before the desk and folded her hands.The young secretary

gulped and silently offered an apology for what she was about to tell and her eyes moved nervously between the seated

woman and the young man leaning against the wall.

"Well," Lady Une prompted, her anxiety eroding the very last of her patience."Surely you got some indication from

Professor Evans that we could be experiencing a situation of sorts.It isn't like her to disappear, especially at a time

like this."

"How would you know," Duo muttered again, somewhat bitterly before Lady Une's other words caught his attention.

"Hey! Whaddaya mean by _situation_ anyway," he yelled.

Lady Une sighed.He was here, he might as well know.He had been a Gundam pilot after all.

"Liz," she faltered, as Duo scowled."Linnea and I were discussing what appears to be weapons manufacturing in the

L3 cluster and I haven't talked to her since.I told her I'd get back to her but no one's seen her since late Monday

afternoon.In fact, security shows she never left her office."

"Holy shit," Duo whispered, all of them turning to look at the closed door. Were there answers behind it?

The face of the young Gundam pilot changed almost visibly Lady Une thought, watching him sharply.His casually cocky,

annoyed attitude transformed to cold determination before her eyes.The door crashed down with a well-aimed kick

that startled Une and Tania before they crept up to stare into the empty room, it was cold inside, a window behind the

desk was wide open and papers swirled silently about.A red light signaling messages blinked on the desk.

Tania bent over and twisted the doorknob of the fallen door."It wasn't locked," she said, looking at Duo with a

mixture of awe and disapproval.

What fools we've been, Duo thought to himself angrily.Did we think because we beat one enemy no one else would

step into the void?He and Quatre had tiptoed around Linnea, when they should have been protecting her. This little

farce of hers and Lady Une's had prevented nothing.He couldn't help but smile at the irony.He'd laughed at Heero's

avoidance of Relena over these months while hiding his own problems under a mask of good humor. Sure give all of

them an army of mobile suits to face and no problem.But when emotions, war and peace mingled it was a bad mix.

Kinda like drinking beer then whiskey, or was that whiskey then beer?Whatever it was it was just the same, the

combination producing a sick feeling in his gut that he didn't know how to deal with.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_The Journal of Leia Barton_

_June 16, AC 188_

__

_I want to remember this day.Are words truly needed?Shall I ever forget?Still, all that happened should be_

_recorded.It is over.He is gone.But I want to remember, remember every moment.Treize . . ._

__

_Rain splashed on the windows, the sound like a torrent of wine splashing in a fine crystal glass.My own eyes stung_

_with teardrops like that late spring rain. He is leaving.Never before have I wanted to abandon my career as a nurse_

_but if he should ask I would gladly follow.Those eyes of his are hidden behind heavy lids; he tries to disguise the fact_

_that he is watching me.Treize knows how I feel, that if he asked I would give him my very self._

__

_Those who fight here are fools.The Alliance General Septem will use this storm to hide his mistakes.My father is no_

_better, he and his lackey Quinze. I hate them, truly.Father tries to control us and Trowa has fallen so easily under his_

_spell. My younger brother is tempted by thoughts of universal sovereignty for the Barton family._

__

_But, I did not want to think of these things, not in my last hours with Treize._

__

_Even for a patient about to be discharged, vital signs must be checked regularly.I lifted my chin and looked into his_

_face, trying to keep up a façade of professionalism as my fingers circled his wrist, timing his pulse.The blood in his_

_veins beneath my touch raced and pounded as I'd never felt it before and as I watched him I felt a touch on my own_

_wrist."It's happening, it's happening," my thoughts raced and my mouth turned dry._

__

_We spoke no words and I pulled away from him, feeling his eyes boring into me, as if they could see through to the_

_pale pink lingerie beneath my uniform.Why did I wear such a thing today?My fingers cling to the cord that controls_

_the Venetian blinds at the window and almost without thought I pulled it gently until the room fell into a dim,_

_artificial dusk.I wanted to go to him but my feet seemed fastened to the floor.Can I take this step, I wondered, my_

_head bent to study the lines in the cold, tile floor.I felt a touch on my shoulder, his fingers caressing my neck and_

_then his breath on my cheek and the touch of his lips against my hair._

__

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Linnea shut the book, her cheeks burning with something that was a combination of shame and jealousy and loss.She

had loved Treize too, part of her had loved him as Leia had, as Lady Une still did with all her heart.

Her eyes scanned the opulent bedroom.Was this Leia's room? Where was she now?Could she help her or would she

hate her? She rubbed a slender hand over the back of her neck, it was so late and despite the adrenaline racing through

her system Linnea was exhausted.But the little book with its tale of secrets called.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_The Journal of Leia Barton_

_March 12, AC 189_

__

_I never thought I would see those eyes again.That unreal shade of blue, the brows curving over them with a_

_distinction and presence that I still believe no other man could ever attain.Especially not my father, with his_

_pretensions of grandeur._

__

_But those eyes are before me again.They are my daughter's eyes.My darling Mariemaia.I shall protect you from_

_your grandfather's influence.You are his daughter and he is the personification of honor and chivalry.You must be_

_like him, my dearest child.In this prison of a house you are my only light, my only happiness.I have shamed my_

_father with what he calls "a disgusting fling with a nobody of a soldier."He doesn't know that someday Treize will_

_achieve all that he desires.A world of peace, peace that he will bring about._

__

I know somehow that we will never meet again.But I have my memories and I have Mariemaia . . .

__

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

X-18999.

That's one of the newer colonies, Hilde thought to herself, perusing the parts request from Barton Conglomerate.A

new customer and where was Duo?Off chasing some other girl.That's not fair, she scolded herself, he's never crossed

the line with you.But she knew something was there between them, however intangible it was it still existed.A

connection, a feeling that was more than the friendship both of them hid so desperately behind.He had saved her life

and she knew she would do anything for him, including letting him find happiness with someone else.

For a moment Hilde felt noble and virtuous.She loved Duo and she wanted him to be happy, but her good intentions

faltered.No, damnit.She wanted him to be happy with her, not some girl from his past that carried tons of emotional

baggage with her.Hilde leaned back in the chair and dragged her fingers through her thick, blue-black hair, tugging

almost painfully at the short, glossy locks before shaking her head and returning her attention to the issue at hand.

There was nothing in the order she couldn't handle and getting out of here for a few days would make the waiting that

much easier.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The little girl studied the young woman, asleep on the bed.Her bright blue eyes narrowed in a combination of anger at

the intruder in a place that was sacred to her and with the natural curiosity of a child.

She was ignored until her grandfather needed her. Then he trotted her out dressed in a miniature copy of his own

formal attire.It was easy to be what he wanted her to be.Grace under the spotlight seemed to be in her blood and

she effortlessly played the role of the domineering little aristocrat.

But sometimes memories of love and affection came to her in dreams. And an uneasy feeling that her lost mother

wouldn't be happy with what she had become.But despite all her maturity and the advantages of good genes,

Mariemaia Barton-Khushrenada was only a child.A motherless child who had no one to rely on except a power-crazed

man who had no real feelings for her.

She heard things, Mariemaia heard everything.Grandfather hated this girl, this girl who slept in her mother's bed.She

herself came here often, if she went into the large closet she could press her face against her mother's satin robes and

recall long-ago embraces and smell the dim memory of a sweet scent that brought back her mother's love.She had

been loved once but that recollection was becoming buried deeper and deeper in her little heart until soon it would be

lost forever.

The strawberry-haired little girl didn't flinch as the girl on the bed blinked sleepily, staring at her as if she were part of

a dream . . .

Treize's eyes.They were looking at her with an odd detachment, as if he were seeing her for the first time.But

something was missing; there had always been something in Treize's eyes. Something vital, the key to his very being.

Linnea drew a hand over her face and blinked.It was a child.

"You were my father's whore?" a small knowing voice asked, the young redheaded girl studied her with a mixture of

disdain and deep interest.

She smiled at the shock on Linnea's face.Mariemaia had learned from the best how to take pleasure in having the

advantage over someone.Everyone was always so surprised at discovering her odd, unnatural maturity. She was only 7

years old.

"You're wondering how I know such a word.My grandfather, Dekim, is very angry with you I heard him shouting and

that's what he called you.I don't know what it means but it must be bad," the child confided smugly.

"He's sending you away, far away," she continued."To one of those ugly resource satellites."

"Mariemaia," Linnea whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from those of the strange child's.

The child's eyes grew large and followed Linnea's glance at the little book on the bed beside her.

"How did you know that," the girl asked, her voice childish and hopeful suddenly as the sound of footsteps echoed in

the vast hall outside the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

There had always been something about circuses; they brought such simple joy and pleasure in a world that was so

technical and complicated.But circuses were just fun and thrilling in a way that made her heart pound with

anticipation and made her smile as well.It was astounding, the things the performers could do.

Hilde looked around the huge yellow tent and popped another piece of buttered popcorn into her mouth, could this be

the same circus she had attended with Duo once?It seemed so long ago, during the war, but it seemed so familiar.

"Oh gosh," she whispered aloud as the lights went dark only to fade up to a spotlight on a boy and girl on a high wire.

Her murmured words were lost in a soft rush of other voices. They were amazing, graceful and daring.Hilde was

unaware that she held her breath and that she had risen slightly from her seat on the hard metal bench.

Trowa Barton, she thought, admiration lighting her eyes as she recognized Duo's friend.She'd met him on MO-II at the

end of the war, she wondered if he remembered.

It would be nice if he did.She didn't like being alone on this colony.X-18999 had an odd quality about it, maybe it was

the newness and the ongoing construction, but Hilde didn't think that was it.The very people seemed sinister and

intense, not like the easygoing people who inhabited the other colonies she'd visited.The people here seemed to

have a hidden purpose and didn't have the time to enjoy the simple things in life.Like tonight for instance, this

wonderful show and the place was less than half full.

She licked a buttery finger thoughtfully and waited while the sparse crowd filed from the tent.

The sound was swift, powerful and sickening and Hilde thought she heard a grunt of human pain.Nervously she paused

in the darkness, her stomach turning a bit at the sound as she clutched the canvas of the wall beside her.Her blue

eyes widened as she peered around the incongruously cheerful yellow fabric and her mouth formed an O of surprise and

shock.Two men lay gasping on the sawdust floor.Hilde whirled and was caught in a pair of arms, unyielding and hard

with muscle.Sweat from his naked chest seeped slowly into the thin cotton shirt she wore and when she raised her

frightened face to his the green eyes flickered with vague recognition.

Hilde didn't realize she'd been shaking until he took his hands away and she swayed slightly.

"What's going on," she hissed, glancing back over her shoulder at the men writhing on the floor like a pair of beached

trout.

"Hilde isn't it," Trowa said at last, remembering he'd seen this girl with Duo on Peacemillion.She nodded and felt his

hands on her arms again, rough and insistent, almost urgent.

"Where's Duo," he asked, his voice soft and controlled, belying the tension in his touch.

When she told Trowa Duo was on Earth, she thought he was going to hit something before his unreadable mask fell back

into place and Hilde wondered if she'd overreacted.Still those men . . . she was sure Trowa was upset . . . but about

what?

"So," he said, steering her away from the dark corner of the tent, "did you enjoy the show?"

She blinked, and then smiled."Yes, very much," she said, heat coming into her face as she became very aware of his

hand against her bare skin.She'd said she could fall for him once and it was true.He had to be one of the handsomest

boys she'd ever seen. What girl wouldn't notice that body, those eyes and that hair that dared you to push it aside and

see what he'd say then?

He was talking but she wasn't really hearing, lost in her thoughts.Not until he told her to leave.

"But Trowa," she protested, reaching out to grab his arm."Something's happening, I want to help."

"What about Duo," Trowa said slowly, seeming to consider her offer."I don't think he'd want you messed up in this.

I'm not sure myself how deep this goes . . ."

"If Duo were here you'd bring him in on this, wouldn't you," Hilde said.

Trowa looked thoughtful."Why are you here anyway," he asked and the wheels in his analytical mind began turning as

soon as she explained about the parts order and what those parts were and whom they were for.It wasn't a difficult

conclusion to reach for someone who'd worked around mobile suits all his life. His suspicions were confirmed.

Two pairs of eyes were definitely better than one and to his recollection this slim and persistent young girl had some

military background.

"Fine," Trowa said, turning on his heel and walking away as Hilde trotted along behind, trying to keep up with his

longer stride."We're enlisting in the Barton Youth Corps."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mariemaia was right.The resource satellite was ugly and barren and unwelcoming.Linnea sat restlessly on a straight-backed

wooden chair before getting up to pace the small room again.Okay, she was here.Now what?She looked around and saw only

a desk, computer and coffee pot.A coffee pot.Someone obviously knew her.

She knew it was silly but she had to do it, it was better than doing nothing.Linnea went to the door and yanked hard on the knob,

shaking the door slightly in its frame.She turned a little pale when someone on the other side opened it at exactly the same time.

Her eyes widened in recognition.Vier.She tried to get past him and out the open door but he grabbed her arm, slammed the door

and locked it again.Linnea yanked her arm away, shuddering a little from the cool, unwanted touch of his fingers and the

diamond-hard look of hate in his eyes.

The engineer reached a hand to touch a stray curl that dangled near her cheek and Linnea raised her free hand and slapped his

smirking face.He touched the spot and smiled.That was the best she could do, without Khushrenada's support she was virtually

powerless.He watched her retreat to a far corner of the small room.

He poured her a cup of coffee."Drink this.We have a long night ahead of us," he said to her.

She took it from him, wanting to refuse but needing the rush of caffeine to be able to think straight.This was bad.Very bad.He

hated her, he had hated her from the first.

"Styrofoam? Didn't you learn anything from His Excellency, Vier," she asked sarcastically, turning the small white cup in her

hand, trying not to let him see her fear.And she was afraid, very afraid.Her hand shook a little as she gulped the coffee down

quickly.

"Treize Khushrenada is dead," Vier said shortly."You're going to help me now.Help me put together an unstoppable force.

Surely you must be anxious to create again.Only this time I'm taking the credit.When I had the option to hire an assistant the

first person I thought of was you Linnea.You can be so helpful, in so many ways."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Next time on Ordinary World . . . Linnea finds an unexpected ally . . . Hilde gets Trowa out of hot water . . . hopefully

this will all happen sometime this year ^_^, seriously I'll try to get back to this soon.


End file.
